The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 318: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

288 THE COURT OF LONDON ‘“ No; she believed that I was Miss Plantagenet,” ob- served Florimel. ‘ But pray proceed, Caroline.” “Well, you drove away in company with her ladyship, and I followed in a hackney-coach at a distance. You repaired to Bellenden Priory —”’ ‘““ Yes,” exclaimed Florimel; ‘‘ and now —” ‘“‘ Patience, Gabriel, patience,” said Caroline. ‘‘ Three days elapsed after that incident, and you did not return home. I felt assured that the siren had enmeshed you in the tram- mels of her seductive blandishments, and once more did I penetrate into the boudoir of darkness, where mysterious enjoyments and raptures had intoxicated you aforetime. And you were there, — yes, there, — in the dense obscurity of the place, and attended by its presiding genius. Most interesting, too, was now the conversation which took place between you. The Unknown brought all the artillery of her wiles, all the seductive powers of her language, all the lavish fascinations of her tone and manner, and all the insidious allurements of her caresses to bear upon your mind and temperament on that occasion. And attenuated as you were by indisposition, it was no wonder if you yielded with more than even your characteristic readiness; and in the infatua- tion of your soul, you vowed to pay a blind and implicit obedience to the dictates of the Unknown. Could you not see that when she enjoined you to leave London and repair to Dover it was to remove you to a distance where the chance of being reconciled to Pauline was immensely diminished? ”’ ‘“‘ T had no time for reflection on that occasion,” said Lord Florimel. ‘‘ All my feelings were in a state of bewildering excitement, all my senses were absorbed in the raptures which that woman, whoever she be, knows so well how to create and maintain in the soul. But is it possible you were a listener to all that discourse which must have made me seem in your eyes the most insensate, rash, and consummate madman in all Christendom? ” | ““T heard every syllable that was spoken,’ returned Caroline, ‘‘ and I already entertained a presentiment that in the progress of the strange and romantic connection which existed between yourself and the Unknown something would transpire favourable to the one grand object of which I never lost sight, namely, my revenge. Determined, therefore, to be enabled to convince the siren lady at any moment that I CONMIEIOOKS m